| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 Monument marking the place where the first part of the skull was discovered in 1935 | |
| Location | Kent |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TQ 597 742[1] |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres)[1] |
| Notification | 1988[1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Swanscombe Skull Site orSwanscombe Heritage Park is a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geologicalSite of Special Scientific Interest inSwanscombe, north-westKent, England.[1][2] It contains twoGeological Conservation Review sites[3][4] and aNational Nature Reserve.[5] The park lies in a former gravel quarry, Barnfield Pit,[6] which is the most important site in the Swanscombe complex, alongside several other nearby pits.[7]
The area was already known for the finds of numerousPalaeolithic-erahandaxes—mostlyAcheulean andClactonian artifacts, some as much as 400,000 years old—when in 1935/1936 work at Barnfield Pit uncovered twofossilised skull fragments. These fragments came to be known as the remains ofSwanscombe Man but were later found to have belonged to a young woman.[8] The Swanscombe skull has been identified as earlyNeanderthal[9] or pre-Neanderthal,[10] (sometimes asHomo cf. heidelbergensis[11]) dating to theHoxnian Interglacial around 400,000 years ago.[6]
Animals found at the site include thestraight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus),Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus),fallow deer,red deer (Cervus elaphus),aurochs (Bos primigenius),Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), and thenarrow-nosed rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemitoechus),Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus),wild boar (Sus scrofa),Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), as well as theEuropean rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).[11][12] A small number (6, representing 1.3% of the total) of the bones found at Swanscombe show evidence of butchery by hominins.[11] The environment at the time of deposition has been suggested to be atemperate forest ofoak,alder andhazel, with some grassy areas.[13]
The skull fragments were found in the lower middle terrace gravels at a depth of almost 8 metres (26 ft). They were found by Alvan T. Marston, an amateur archaeologist who visited the pit between quarrying operations to search for flint tools. A third fragment from the same skull was found in 1955 by Bertram andJohn Wymer. Swanscombe is one of only two sites in Britain that have yieldedLower Paleolithic human fossils, the other beingBoxgrove Quarry, West Sussex, where 500,000-year-old leg bones and teeth ("Boxgrove Man") have been found.
Further excavations, carried out between 1968 and 1972 by Dr John d'Arcy Waechter, uncovered more animal bone and flint tools and established the extent of the former shoreline on which the bones were found. Most of the bone finds are now in theNatural History Museum in London, with the stone finds at theBritish Museum.
The other keypaleolithic sites in the UK areHappisburgh,Pakefield,Pontnewydd,Kents Cavern,Paviland andGough's Cave.
51°26′44.12″N0°17′56.80″E / 51.4455889°N 0.2991111°E /51.4455889; 0.2991111
